NFL draft: Vikings have had success with QBs taken in later rounds

Brad Johnson was a ninth-round pick by the Vikings in 1992 and was solid in two stints with them. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

If the Vikings are looking for hope in coming up with a quarterback steal in a later round of this week's NFL draft, they need only to turn to the back pages in their record book.

Of the 15 times a Minnesota quarterback has made a Pro Bowl, nine were by a player drafted in the third round or later and two were by one taken in the second. Of the 19 playoff wins in team history, 12 were steered by a quarterback who went in the third round or later and three others by guys from the second.

The greatest quarterback in team history, Fran Tarkenton, was a Vikings third-round pick in 1961 and took them to three Super Bowls. Wade Wilson, a Vikings eighth-round selection in 1981, was mostly a backup but did lead them to the NFC Championship Game after the 1987 season and made the Pro Bowl the next year.

Rich Gannon went in the fourth round in 1987 to New England and was traded the same day to the Vikings before having some good moments with them. Unfortunately for Minnesota, when he later made four Pro Bowls and was NFL MVP in 2002 while leading a team to the Super Bowl, it was with Oakland.

Brad Johnson was a ninth-round pick by the Vikings in 1992 and was solid in two stints with them. But again unfortunately for them, his Pro Bowl appearances were with Washington in 1999 and Tampa Bay in 2002, the same season he led the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl win.

The Vikings could take a quarterback with the No. 8 pick in the first round of the draft, which runs from Thursday to Sunday.

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But, with questions about the readiness of the so-called top prospects and a number of other guys who could develop with time, they might instead select a quarterback in a later round.

"I think there are some diamonds in the rough out there,'' Gannon, a CBS analyst, said of some of the likely later-round quarterbacks. "I think there are some intriguing guys out there. (Blake) Bortles, (Derek) Carr or (Johnny) Manziel, those three guys may go in the first round, but I think after that there are guys that maybe aren't that much different.''

Of course, only time will tell. Quarterbacks who might not go in the first round who could end up panning out include Teddy Bridgewater, once viewed as a high pick, AJ McCarron, Zach Mettenberger, Jimmy Garoppolo, Tom Savage, Aaron Murray, David Fales and several others.

NFL history is full of legendary quarterbacks who weren't high draft choices. Tom Brady went in the sixth round. Kurt Warner wasn't drafted.

The Vikings ended up benefiting years later from some other quarterbacks who fell through the cracks. Joe Kapp was an 18th-round draft choice by Washington in 1959, went to Canada and then 10 years later led the Vikings to a Super Bowl while going to the Pro Bowl.

Warren Moon wasn't drafted in 1978 before becoming a star in Canada and with the Houston Oilers.

Rich Gannon went in the fourth round in 1987 to New England and was traded the same day to the Vikings. Unfortunately for Minnesota, when he later made four Pro Bowls and was NFL MVP in 2002 while leading a team to the Super Bowl, it was with Oakland. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

He later stopped by Minnesota long enough to make Pro Bowls in 1994 and 1995.

Two other quarterbacks who came to the Vikings late in their careers and had success, Randall Cunningham and Brett Favre, once had been second-round picks.

The Vikings are willing to be patient now with a quarterback draftee, perhaps one who is a later-round selection. That's because they recently gave a two-year deal to incumbent starter Matt Cassel, a seventh-round selection who continues to be driven by that.

"Coming in as seventh-round pick and knowing every single year you're going to kind of be on the bubble, especially early in your career, it's one of things that you go out each and every day with a purpose,'' said Cassel, who was drafted by New England in 2005 and made a Pro Bowl with Kansas City in 2010.

Of course, the ultimate later-round success story for the Vikings remains the 6-foot Tarkenton. He threw four touchdown passes in his first regular-season game and went on to a hall of fame career.

"They drafted me in the third round because they thought I wasn't big enough and I wasn't strong enough and fast enough,'' Tarkenton said. "I had been struggling in the exhibition season, but in the last exhibition game against the Rams, it all kind of slowed down for me and I was getting it. And from that game on, I knew I could play.''

It doesn't happen that quickly for most quarterbacks taken in later rounds. Patience most often has been the key.

To realize how low Johnson went in the draft, the NFL doesn't even have a ninth round anymore.

The greatest quarterback in team history, Fran Tarkenton, was a Vikings third-round pick in 1961 and took them to three Super Bowls. (File photo)

But he said he wasn't ready after not being a starter at Florida State and remains grateful for the tutelage he got during much of the 1990s under then-Minnesota offensive coordinator Brian Billick.

"Guys develop differently,'' Johnson said. "The thing about Rich Gannon, Wade Wilson and me is that we were given time. There wasn't free agency back then, so you could hold on to guys longer. But I was a late bloomer. Kurt Warner was a late bloomer. So was Tom Brady.''

Johnson went a strong 28-18 as a starter with the Vikings during his 1992-98 and 2005-06 stints and said he "loved'' his time in Minnesota. But his greatest success happened elsewhere.

That also was the case with Gannon, who was 19-16 as a Minnesota starter from 1987-92. He eventually went on to become a starter in Washington and Kansas City and a star with the Raiders, but wonders how it could have been different with the Vikings.

"The thing that kind of stunted my growth a little bit was we had a lot of coaching turnover,'' said Gannon, who had three offensive coordinators in his final three Minnesota seasons. "So that was tough,''

As for this week's draft, general manager Rick Spielman won't tip his hand on when the Vikings might take a quarterback and says if you feel someone is going to be "a franchise guy, you wouldn't take them in the seventh round; you'd take them in the first round." But Spielman does acknowledge that some quarterbacks slip through the cracks in the draft before it works out for them.

"There are guys that somehow click and for whatever reason, everything lines up the right way, the system, the coaching, the whole thing,'' Spielman said.

That's happened before with the Vikings and late-round quarterback picks. They might be looking for it to happen again.